During The Search Police panel at last month's SMX West, Matt Cutts announced that a significant update to Penguin is on its way. The algorithm change known as Penguin launched in April 2012 and was followed by a series of updates. With each update, more over-optimized felt the effects. A search engine watcher since before Google hit the scene, Bruce Clay poses predictions to the questions that have been on SEOs minds:

When will the next Penguin update happen?

What can we expect from Google's next crack-down on manipulative links?

If you're a brand online, today's conversational media world requires you're also a publisher if you have any hope of holding space in the public marketplace. When done right, content curation is an efficient publishing model that can aid SEO objectives such as fresh, unique content. Yet, precautions must be taken to ensure it meets search engine quality standards. In this article you'll read about:

Building long lasting customer relationships is essential to the
health of any business. In part two of this series, we delve into the key components of customer interaction and communication. A few ways to strengthen your customer relationships discussed herein are:

Offering your clients complete honesty and transparency.

Going the extra mile to ensure your clients feel their needs are met.

Staying in regular contact with your clients and on top of their business developments.

Google released the video "How It Feels [through Glass]" in late February, and since that time, there have been more than 19 million views. After two years in development, the net was cast for 8,000 inaugural Google Glass users. The #IfIHadAGlass contest launched, inviting people to share what they would do if they had Google Glass — the sleek frames powering a "head up" augmented reality experience.

Some of the winning #IfIHadAGlass tweets by celebrities were:

"I’d show what it’s like to act on the set of HIMYM all day!"

— Neil Patrick Harris

"It would be a downgrade."

— LeVar Burton (of Star Trek fame)

"(If) it was waterproof I could record my paddle boarding :)"

— Danny Sullivan

With more than 39,000 tweets including #GoogleGlass since February, the world wants to know who won a pair of the coveted frames (Google Glass does not have an actual glass lens). Andrej Kaparthy, a Stanford Ph.D student, created a site that displays the people invited to use Google Glass via Twitter as of April 1. The winners did not win Google Glass itself — what they won was authorization to use Google Glass. They Google Explorers have to pay $1,500 for the privilege of using Google Glass.

One winner, known only as “Ed from Philadelphia,” saw an opportunity to make a profit and listed his Google Glass on eBay before he'd even received it. The bidding soared to $95,300, but Ed cancelled the listing. In an interview with Forbes, Ed explained “I took the auction down after learning … (about the) terms of service agreements prohibiting the sale or transfer of the device ... I didn’t want to jeopardize my getting a pair of Glass.”

Others have seen an opportunity to profit from Google Glass, though legally. Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have come together to create the Glass Collective. Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures, said he thought the "potential for Glass was significant enough to … (form) the Glass Collective, an investment syndicate among our three firms, to provide seed funding to entrepreneurs in the Glass ecosystem to help jump-start their ideas."

Education Matters SMX Advanced and SEOToolSet Training® Offer Invaluable Opportunities to Take Your SEO Skills to the Next Level

With SMX Advanced less than two months away, it’s time to get excited. The firestorm of SEO information descends upon Seattle June 11-13, and Bruce Clay, Inc. will be in the center of it.

Year after year, the Ask the SEOs panel is a highlight of SMX Advanced. This year should be no exception, with Bruce Clay and other veteran SEOs on hand to answer any burning questions. Danny Sullivan, founding editor of Search Engine Land, will moderate the panel as Bruce joins Alex Bennert (in-house SEO of the Wall Street Journal), Greg Boser (SEO consultant), Todd Friesen (director of SEO for SalesForce.com) and Rae Hoffman (CEO of Pushfire) in tackling this year’s big issues in SEO. Fair warning: things may get heated.

On Thursday, June 13, Bruce will be leading one-day SEO Training in partnership with the conference, covering corporate SEO methodology, concepts and strategies.

To save 10 percent on an SMX Advanced all-access pass and the SEO workshop, use the discount code WS-ISS10.

Another upcoming SEO educational event with Bruce Clay is SEOToolSet Training in Southern California from May 13-17. The renowned training is designed for all learning styles and levels of knowledge and geared towards professionals who play a part in the creation and marketing of a website or business. Attendees gain valuable knowledge about the changing face of SEO and Internet marketing, and learn valuable white hat SEO strategies sure to boost their rankings.

Shuffles

Due to financial instability, BlueGlass abruptly shut its doors, leaving employees, clients and BlueGlassX attendees out in the cold. The conference was cancelled without refunds.

Today, Disrupt NY 2013 takes over Manhattan, with its popular hackathon and five days worth of eye-opening panels.

In Sydney, Bruce Clay Australia is hosting a special one-day SEO Training for Marketers on May 8. The training provides an overview of SEO, updates and an introduction to advanced SEO concepts. Included in the training is access the SEOToolSet.

In Southern California, Bruce Clay will lead SEOToolSet Training May 13-17. May 13-15 features standard training and May 16-17 focuses on advanced training. Based on 17 years of industry experience, Bruce Clay knows how search engines work and offers invaluable knowledge during his training.

With speakers like Rand Fishkin and Marty Weintraub, the Interactivity Digital conference has been long-anticipated. The wait is nearly over: the conference takes place in South Beach May 15-16.

On the West coast, May 21-22 marks the arrival of BlueGlassX 2013 in Marina del Rey. You won’t want to miss this annual digital marketing conference.

On the East coast, the CM Summit will also be taking place from May 21-22. This year’s theme is "Parting the Clouds: Bridging Data and Humanity."

In June, it’s time for SMX Advanced in Seattle, Washington. During the event (June 11-12), and from Bruce Clay, Inc., President Bruce Clay and Social Media Editor Virginia Nussey will be speaking.

SES takes over Toronto from June 12-14. Search engine optimizers and marketers will flock to the Great North for this annual affair.

Are you ready for MozCon? The SEO conference takes place July 8-10 at the Washington State Convention Center.

In a report released recently by Neustar, searches continue to increase on mobile platforms. The Neustar report was based on a study of 3,000 American adults. Results show a 26 percent increase in smartphone searches, a 19 percent increase in tablet searches and an 18 percent decrease in desktop searches.

Twitter relaunched Twitter for Business. Twitter for Business helps businesses target, analyze, promote and market. Mashable reports that "while much of the content is similar to what Twitter previously made available for businesses, that content is now organized in such a way that it’s easy for Twitter beginners as well as experts to get what they need from the site."

Bing announced that they will not implement enhanced campaigns as Google has. "We do not believe bundling together mobile, desktop and tablet advertising in an opaque manner is in the best interest of our customer base or the industry at large," read a Bing blog post. Industry insiders see the stance as a way for Bing to position itself apart from what has been an arguably unpopular move by Google.

This month, Facebook Home became a reality. Now available as a free download in the Google Play Store, the Facebook Home is currently available for the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, and Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Last month, Google added a new feature in AdWords. Users can now edit keywords in bulk. "This feature saves you time by allowing you to download editable keyword
reports, make changes right in the document, and then upload the
updated reports back into your account where your new changes will be
automatically applied," according to Google's AdWords support page.

Twitter has announced it will be pulling its TweetDeck for Android App. Soon, it will no longer be available in the Play Store, then it will not be able to integrate with Facebook, and finally all access will be shut down.

SEOToolSet Updates

Each month, our developers make improvements to SEOToolSet V5 to ensure users have a more efficient experience. The following updates were made this month:

Fixed an issue where larger numbers would cause keyword tools to display improperly.

Fixed an issue in the comparison ranking report where data was re-used for comparison instead of copied.

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